A NetBackup SAN client is a NetBackup client on which the Fibre Transport service is activated. The SAN client is similar to the SAN media server that is used for the Shared Storage Option; it backs up its own data. However, the SAN client is based on the smaller NetBackup client installation package, so it has fewer administration requirements and uses fewer system resources.

Usually, a SAN client contains critical data that requires high bandwidth for backups. It connects to a NetBackup media server over Fibre Channel.

The NetBackup SAN Client Fibre Transport Service manages the connectivity and the data transfers for the FT pipe on the SAN clients. The SAN client FT service also discovers FT target mode devices on the NetBackup media servers and notifies the FT Service Manager about them.